Local animation studio brings the awesome to theatres

Local studio plays starring role Lego movie The much-anticipated sequel to the Lego movie is now in theatres, and it was a team of animals at Vancouver's Animal Logic that played a large part in getting it there.

In the past few years, Vancouver's digital landscape has grown, employing thousands of people in the animation and film business and bringing billions of dollars of investment to the city. And while that's great for the economy, it's also entertaining. Which is why consumer reporter Ross McLaughlin paid a visit to a local animation studio with a starring role in a very popular movie.

The much anticipated sequel Lego Movie 2: The Second Part is now in theatres. And it was a team of animators at Vancouver's Animal Logic that played a large part in getting it there.

Emmett's back in the second movie bringing his eternal optimism to a post-apocalyptic wasteland that was created brick by brick at Animal Logic.

From exploding asteroids to battles in the sand, each scene is made of 100 per cent animated Lego blocks.

The process is technical, but the head of production, Marc Matthews, says it’s even more than that.

“We like to think our animators are the actors. Anywhere from the characters' emotions to their arms movements to any of their action, all that's done here with our animators," he explained.

Animal Logic is not the only digital studio calling Vancouver home. Over 60 studios make up the industry in the city, creating the world's largest cluster of domestic and foreign-owned studios.

“There are a lot of young people here which makes the scene really dynamic,” said Dave Burgess, animation supervisor.

“A lot of people say it's the Hollywood North, but in a lot of ways it surpasses Hollywood in the terms of the actual artistic talent in the digital industry,” added Matthews.

What does it take to masterbuild an entire movie out of bricks?

The Vancouver crew was made up of 316 workers, using 3,433 unique Lego brick types. And the biggest number of polygons in a single shot? 1.2 trillion.

So what exactly is a polygon?

“It kind of creates the shell of an object. So there can be triangle ones, square ones, It's the stitching that keeps the object together,” said Mark Theriault, supervising effects artist.

And while the concept may be difficult to wrap your head around, like the movie, it sounds pretty awesome.